MSC Embedded Inc., manufacturer of highly integrated standard board level products and customer-specific boards and systems, today introduced a powerful, new COM Express Type 6 module family. This family, called MSC C6C-A7, is based on the AMD embedded R-Series processors also known as accelerated processing units (APUs). MSC C6C-A7 members are compact form factor computer-on-modules characterized by very powerful graphics and high parallel computing performance with low power dissipation.

The MSC C6C-A7 module family integrates AMD R-460L 2.0 GHz (2.8 GHz Turbo) or AMD R-452L 1.6 GHz (2.4 GHz Turbo) quad-core processors. The thermal design power (TDP) levels are 25 W and 19 W, respectively. The two dual-core versions are populated with the AMD R-260H 2.1 GHz (2.6 GHz Turbo) processor or the AMD R-252F 1.7 GHz (2.3 GHz Turbo) processor -- each featuring 17 W TDP. The processors support the AMD64 technology and the AMD-V virtualization technology. The AMD Fusion Controller Hub (FCH) A75 chipset was also selected. The main memory can be expanded to 16 GB DDR3-1600 dual-channel SDRAM via two SO DIMM sockets.

EUROCOM Panther 4.0 supercomputer laptop delivers unmatched 2D/3D capabilities for heavy duty 3D and 2D applications, like CAD (Computer-Aided Design), CAE (Computer-Aided Engineering), DCC (Digital Content Creation), visualization, and simulation. It is ideal for Engineering on the Go, Rapid Engineering Deployment Teams and for Server on the Go applications.

It takes MSI a while to determine to enter Workstation market. MSI felt compelled to expand product line, base on users' daily usage requirements. Thus after focus on developing quite a range of gaming notebooks for casual and hardcore gamiers for years, MSI GT60 Workstation will be arriving in December 2012. MSI created a professional tool for engineers, designers, scientists, and a lot more professional users ; helping them achieve their ideas, creations into tengible products or virtual artworks.

Intel has made available the new HD Graphics driver version 15.28.7.2867, which includes support for Microsoft Windows 8, OpenGL 4.0 and Ultra HD video playback & display (4K resolution). Additionally, this driver improves the gaming fun delivered on dozens of recent PC game titles including Runic Games' Torchlight 2, Arkane Studios' Dishonored, and EA's Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes. With support for Ultra HD resolution, 3rd generation Intel Core based PCs can support playback of content at resolutions beyond 1080p up to 4096x2048 on Ultra HD displays. This driver supports both Windows* 7 and Windows* 8 and be downloaded from these links:

DOWNLOAD: Intel HD Graphics Driver for Windows 8 32-bit and 64-bit

Liantec announce ITX-QM77 industrial Mini-ITX Intel QM77 Ivy Bridge Mobile motherboard solution. The ITX-QM77 is based on Mini-ITX form factor and Intel Ivy Bridge (IVB) computing platform, supports Intel 3rd generation Ivy Bridge and 2nd generation Sandy Bridge Core i3 / i5 / i7 mobile processors, 16 GB of memory capacity, onboard dual Intel Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI, DVI, HD audio, SATA-III 6Gbit/s, and SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports. The ITX-QM77 also offers x16 PCI Express slot and onboard MiniCard socket with x1 PCI Express and HiSpeed USB 2.0 interface for additional expansion.

With Intel latest Ivy Bridge platform, the ITX-QM77 provides advanced graphics computing capacity with Intel HD Graphics 4000 GPU, supports Microsoft DirectX 11, OpenGL 3.1, and OpenCL 1.1. Besides, the ITX-QM77 also supports x16 PCI Express 3.0 bus interface with 8 GT/s of data transfer rate on the expansion slot, suitable for add-on graphics or I/O card that need more data transfer bandwidth.

ZOTAC International, a global innovator and channel manufacturer of graphics cards, mainboards and mini-PCs, today unleashes a new generation of performance class graphics with the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 660 Ti and GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Edition graphics cards. The new ZOTAC GeForce GTX 660 Ti duo introduces NVIDIA's latest architecture to value-conscious gamers seeking the best performance and features.

New to the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 660 Ti series is the exclusive Dual Silencer cooling solution that delivers temperatures 10-degree (Celsius) cooler and a 10dB noise reduction under full load for a superior gaming experience compared to competitors. The ZOTAC Dual Silencer provides the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Edition with the thermal headroom necessary to push the limits and extract an extra 10-percent performance boost for higher frame rates and smoother game play.

The Khronos Group today announced the immediate release of the OpenGL 4.3 specification, bringing the very latest graphics functionality to the most advanced and widely adopted cross-platform 2D and 3D graphics API (application programming interface).

OpenGL 4.3 integrates developer feedback and continues the rapid evolution of this royalty-free specification while maintaining full backwards compatibility, enabling applications to incrementally use new features while portably accessing state-of-the-art graphics processing unit (GPU) functionality across diverse operating systems and platforms. The OpenGL 4.3 specification contains new features that extend functionality available to developers and enables increased application performance. The full specification is available for immediate download at www.opengl.org/registry/.

Futuremark is proud to announce that Acer Incorporated, Intel, Qualcomm Incorporated and SingTel-Optus have joined its Benchmark Development Program to create a new 3DMark gaming benchmark for Android-based tablets and smartphones. The Futuremark Benchmark Development Program gathers input and expertise from the world's best and most technologically advanced companies to create industry standard benchmarks for performance measurement. 3DMark for Android is expected to be released later this year.

Jukka Makinen, Futuremark CEO said, "For more than 10 years, we have worked with the world's leading PC hardware manufacturers to create 3DMark and PCMark. As a result, Futuremark benchmarks are the industry standard for PC performance measurement used by hundreds of press publications and millions of end-users. As we bring 3DMark to a new OS for the first time, we are excited to expand our cooperation to include Acer, Intel, Qualcomm and SingTel-Optus, technology leaders who will bring unparalleled insight, experience and vision to the development of 3DMark for Android."

Valve's hit online multiplayer game, Left 4 Dead 2, which was recently ported to Ubuntu along with the Steam client, is found to play faster on the platform than even Windows. The game generates higher frame-rates on Ubuntu with the new OpenGL renderer for Source engine than the Direct3D renderer it uses on Windows.

The disclosure comes as part of Valve's ongoing efforts to optimize the Source engine to the Linux platform, following which, it plans to port more of its game franchises, such as Half Life, Counter Strike, Team Fortress, and Portal. The games will be available on Ubuntu with SteamPlay, allowing users who already own a license for the Windows or Mac OS X versions to simply download and play the game on Ubuntu, without any purchases.

Valve announced porting of its Steam content-distribution platform, Source game engine, and the smash-hit multi-player game title Left 4 Dead 2 (L4D2), to Ubuntu (Linux). The port isn't exactly straightforward, as code has to be rewritten for OpenGL. Valve already accomplished most of this, with its Mac OS X port, which uses the same API.

Valve is targeting just one distribution at this time, to minimize "optimization" overheads. Derivatives such as Mint could run the platform just fine. Valve's immediate goals are to get the Steam client to work on Ubuntu with full functionality, launching Steam for Linux with L4D2 (thanks to SteamPlay, gamers with L4D2 on Windows can play it on Ubuntu without additional purchases); and optimizing L4D2 to get additional frame-rates on Ubuntu. Valve is also work to get its other titles ported to Ubuntu.

NVIDIA posted a statement following last week's interactive session lead by Linus Torvalds, at a Finnish University, which didn't end too well for NVIDIA. The audience complained to Torvalds about lack of consistency between features available to Windows and Linux, and NVIDIA's stubbornness to help the community come up with alternative solutions to get the advertised features (such as Optimus) to work. NVIDIA's statement focuses on exactly that, consistency of features across platforms, and states that it is one of NVIDIA's priorities.

The statement by NVIDIA doesn't refute any of what a member of the audience complained about. There is still no proper Optimus feature made available by NVIDIA to Linux users, but a reminder that NVIDIA recently made changes to its drivers that makes interface with an alternative system software made by various open-source communities, the Bumblebee Project, easier. Said the statement "While we understand that some people would prefer us to provide detailed documentation on all of our GPU internals, or be more active in Linux kernel community development discussions, we have made a decision to support Linux on our GPUs by leveraging NVIDIA common code, rather than the Linux common infrastructure. While this may not please everyone, it does allow us to provide the most consistent GPU experience to our customers, regardless of platform or operating system."

The statement follows:

NVIDIA released the GeForce 304.48 Beta software suite, which include game-specific performance improvements, and fixes for bugs related to recently launched hardware. To begin with, GeForce 304.48 Beta claims performance improvements as high as 18%. The improvements are tested on GeForce GTX 680 and GeForce GTX 560, and are specific to game titles such as Batman Arkham City, Dragon Age 2, Lost Planet 2, STALKER: Call of Pripyat; SLI profiles were improved for games such as Battlefield 3 and The Witcher 2. The exact performance improvement numbers claimed by NVIDIA are charted below.

In addition to performance improvements, NVIDIA released fixes for outstanding issues, such as micro-stutter noted by some GeForce GTX 600 "Kepler" users in games with v-sync enabled; under-clocking of factory-overclocked graphics cards by certain manufacturers; and a performance issue with Total War: Shogun 2, with its latest patch enabled. NVIDIA also added and improved SLI profiles for a large selection of games.DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 304.48 Beta

The complete change-log follows.

Eurocom Corporation, a developer of High Performance Mobile Workstations and Hardcore Mobile Gaming Rigs is adding the AMD Radeon HD 7970M GPU to the Neptune 2.0 and Racer 2.0 high performance notebooks. The addition of the MXM 3.0b spec AMD Radeon HD 7970M offers gamers and enthusiasts a new level of ultra high performance GPU computing with AMD Enduro for insane battery life by taking advantage of AMD's existing ZeroCore Power and Power Gating battery-saving features.

"Hardcore gamers, enthusiasts, your dreams have come true! The AMD Radeon HD 7970M is the best graphics GPU in terms of overall price and performance on the market . The AMD Radeon HD 7970M, combined with Intel XTU and Intel XMP gives gamers and power users full control of their powerful EUROCOM super-notebooks " Mark Bialic, Eurocom President.

Intel released a new beta driver for processors with integrated graphics, for the Windows 8 Release Preview. Carrying the version number 15.28.0.64.2770, the driver supports Windows Display Driver Model Version 1.2 (WDDM 1.2), and enables features such as stereoscopic 3D, optimized screen rotation detection, and DirectX 11 (on select graphics controller models). It supports Intel HD Graphics 4000/3000/2500/2000 (Core "Sandy Bridge" and Core "Ivy Bridge"). Intel recommends use of its Windows 7 driver for reliability with OpenGL 3.3 applications.

DOWNLOAD: Intel HD Graphics Beta Driver for Windows 8 Release Preview

Super Micro Computer, Inc., a global leader in high-performance, high-efficiency server technology and green computing, releases its next generation, ultra low power, compact form factor embedded server platform (5017P-TLN4F) based on their new Mini-ITX (6.7" x 6.7") motherboard (X9SPV-F/LN4F). Compared to the previous generation architecture, this solution delivers 15% more processing performance, up to 50% more 3D graphics performance supporting the latest graphic APIs - DirectX 11, OpenCL 1.1 and OpenGL 3.1 and new features such as Intel Smart Response Technology enabling increased storage I/O performance with SSD caching.

Eurocom Corporation, a developer of long lifespan, high performance, fully upgradable Notebooks and Mobile Workstations has launched the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M GPU with 1344 CUDA cores and 4GB GDDR5 graphics memory in its line of high performance Notebooks.

Eurocom will be launching the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M in the EUROCOM Neptune 2.0 and Racer 2.0 high performance, fully upgradeable and customizable notebooks.

Club 3D presents its GeForce GT 640 graphic cards, both cards are low profile and come with a quiet single slot cooler (29 dBA*) and come with Dual-Link DVI-D, HDMI and VGA video outputs. The GeForce GT 640 cards are based on the GK107 chipset, and offer full support for PCI Express 3.0, DirectX 11.1, OpenGL 4.2 and OpenCL 1.2.

Aimed at the mid-entry level, the cards are a very affordable way to turn your PC into a multimedia and game computer. Like with all its Low Profile cards Club 3D offers more value with a Low Profile Kit (LP slot brackets included). The Club 3D GeForce GT 640 is the perfect solution for those that are looking for a small and affordable graphics upgrade.

Dell announced today it is expanding its client virtualization solutions with the introduction of the first virtualized 2U rack workstation enabling up to four concurrent professional graphics users to work from a single workstation from virtually anywhere. The Dell Precision R5500 rack workstation is the first four-GPU (graphics processing unit) configuration to be certified by Citrix with GPU pass-through on Citrix XenServer 6 using Citrix XenDesktop HDX 3D Pro, and brings additional security, IT resource optimization and end user flexibility to high performance workloads. This new usage model is designed for customers running 3D workloads in the engineering, medical, media and entertainment, scientific, software development and economic and finance market segments looking to support additional users on a single workstation.

As a world-renowned market leader, Gainward officially introduces Gainward GeForce GT 600 series graphics accelerators for the mainstream discrete VGA market -- Gainward GeForce GT 630, GeForce GT 620 & GeForce GT 610. The new GeForce GT 600 series offer better productivity and efficiency, provides smooth graphics in your games and multimedia contents while staying cool and power efficient. It is with the full support of latest DirectX 11 multimedia gaming standard and is supplied with Gainward components for greatest stability. Gainward GeForce GT 600 series are the ideal solution for price-performance conscience users with high demands.

Eurocom Corporation, a developer of long lifespan, fully upgradable notebooks, Mobile Workstations and Mobile Servers is shipping the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M in its line of Mobile Workstations and High Performance Notebooks.

The addition of the NVIDIA GeFore GTX 660M, currently the highest performing Kepler mobile solution from NVIDIA, gives Eurocom customers a more complete choice of video processor options to configure into their new Eurocom system or upgrade into their existing system. The addition of the NVIDIA GeForce 660M GPUs in single and SLI offers users another choice of video processor options to Eurocom customers to choose nearly any preference or performance level.

There is light in the end of the tunnel for proponents of a native-Linux version of Valve's Steam platform, as a Steam for Linux is just months away, according to a Phoronix report. Linux has been hiring developers with experience in Linux OpenGL applications for some time now, and the gearwheels at Valve have been able to drive out an early version of Left 4 Dead 2 that was seen running native on Linux (Ubuntu 11.10), without translation layers such as Wine, utilizing the OpenGL API, with the ICD provided by AMD Catalyst. Although first denied in 2010, Valve is back to the idea of Steam for Linux, thanks to its "flat" company structure that lacks a hierarchy. Following the footsteps of Steam for Mac, Valve could port some of its games to Linux, and give the client SteamPlay capability.

Extreme Engineering Solutions, Inc. (X-ES) is supporting the 3rd generation Intel Core i7 processor across eight industry-standard form factors -- COM Express, 3U VPX, 6U VPX, 3U CompactPCI, 6U CompactPCI, VME, air-cooled PrPMC/XMC, and conduction-cooled PrPMC/XMC. The XPedite7470 3U VPX Single Board Computer (SBC) and XCalibur4401 6U CompactPCI SBC are the first products available from X-ES to support the 3rd generation Intel Core i7 processor.

3rd generation Intel Core i7 processors provide higher performance and lower power compared to 2nd generation Intel Core i7 processors. 3rd generation Intel Core i7 processors also include Intel HD Graphics with DirectX 11, supporting OpenGL 3.1 and OpenCL 1.1.

AMD today announced a collaboration with Adobe Systems Incorporated to optimize a new set of GPU-accelerated features for Adobe products including the newly announced Adobe Photoshop CS6. Implementing GPU acceleration and incorporating OpenCL optimization improves the end-user experience by dramatically speeding up critical imaging features and generating real-time results when editing with key tools in Adobe Creative Suite 6.

"AMD brings its expertise in GPU and APU compute in the latest release of Adobe Creative Suite," said Winston Hendrickson, vice president products, Creative Media Solutions, Adobe. "This technology integration allows us to provide creative professionals with exciting new creative options and lightning-fast performance."

AMD today announced its collaboration with PTC, a leading provider of product development software solutions and services, to enable 900% faster performance in 3D transparency in PTC Creo Parametric 2.0 and shaded 3D frame rates and interactivity by over 4X on AMD FirePro professional graphics cards. In addition, the AMD Catalyst Pro driver supports optimizations to ensure AMD FirePro professional graphics cards enable winning performance, reliability and workflow innovation for Creo users at virtually every AMD FirePro professional graphics card price point.

"The latest AMD FirePro professional graphics cards and drivers have been specifically engineered to enhance the productivity of PTC Creo Parametric 2.0 users," said Antoine Reymond, senior strategic alliance manager, Workstation Graphics, AMD. "Technical designers rely on software and hardware tools to optimize their workflow and enable them to effectively design without performance bottlenecks. Our collaboration with PTC helps ensure design professionals using AMD FirePro professional graphics cards will experience a significant boost in performance, resulting in superior productivity and design intuition."

The GeForce 600 series grew by two members today (albeit, OEM-only), NVIDIA re-branded the GeForce GT 520 to a new model name, "GeForce GT 620". This "new" part is otherwise identical to its predecessor, except that its standard memory amount has been halved from 1 or 2 GB to 512 MB or 1 GB. A feature addition here, is that the GT 620 supports the OpenGL 4.2 API, something the GT 520 doesn't. The GT 620 continues to be based on the 40 nm GF119 silicon, with 48 CUDA cores, 8 TMUs, and 4 ROPs.

NVIDIA also unveiled to OEMs the "new" GeForce 605, which is a re-branded GeForce 510. Based on the same GF119 silicon as the GT 620, the GeForce 605 core runs at 523 MHz, with 1046 MHz CUDA cores. This model comes with memory size options of 512 MB and 1 GB. It also inherits the core configuration of the GeForce 510, with 48 CUDA cores, 8 TMUs, and 4 ROPs.